 Poster: A snowHead
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So I've been watching the weather reports closely over the last week for my Eurostar day trip to Les Arcs with my 8 year old daughter on Saturday. Until a few days ago, the forecast was for a sunny day. Hurray!!
But over the last few days it's not been looking so hot. A snowfall, which would be fabulous for a week long holiday, is not what you want to see all day when you only get one day and you'd like to, well, admire the view. Still, I can live with it snowing, I'm there for the skiing really although my daughter is less likely to have a good time in snow conditions from past experience.
I should have been grateful because I just checked again just now and there is THUNDER forecast.
From a brief search online this is pretty much fairly rare, but nevertheless terrible news. Lifts closed, everyone off the mountain etc..
I know this is a risk I took when I booked for just one day (not that I had any choice) but even so, it seems I've been very unlucky.
What can I really expect? Are we wasting our time even going - will the entire resort be shut? 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It's been forecast fairly heavy snow on Saturday for a little while so I guess that's what it is likely to be.
If it's heavy it might slow your progress to the resort and back. As you say the pistes are likely to be flat light conditions.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@emwmarine, we're getting the Eurostar to BSM and then the funicular up to Les Arcs so we should be okay on that front (unless snow messes with Eurostar?) Unless you mean just getting around the mountain in general!
I'm pretty sure the snow will be coming, c'est la vie and all that, but it's the thunder I'm worried about! Thinking we'll be mostly doing routes down in the trees now, regardless.. assuming anything is open *sob*
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@sparklies, thunder and snow are pretty rare, although not impossible. What forecast are you looking at?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I'm sure the weather will be fine - the general rule is the the forecast 3 days out is the one thing that you can absolutely guarantee will NOT be the actual weather on the day...
It's an interesting point though - which would be the worst type of lift to be on when struck by lighting? I guess a poma would direct the charge to a particularly sensitive area (although sadly in my case, not as sensitive as it once was). But then a cable car would pretty much turn into a microwave...
@sparklies, try to stick to chair lifts with rubber seats (if any) and try to ski without poles if possible as they're sure-fire conductors.
Good luck and let us know how you get on (we worry)
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@under a new name, several, unfortunately. They all seem to suggest it, although one - http://www.bergfex.com/les-arcs-bourg-saint-maurice/wetter/prognose/#3 - suggests only a 25% chance. https://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast/France/Les_Arcs_snow.html looks the most depressing but doesn't give percentages or anything. To be fair I actually have no idea how reliable these various sites are, if any site can be reliable beyond "we think some snow might be coming".
@red 27, Ha yes. Growing up in Cornwall I know you can't put any stock in a forecast, even same day due to the high numbers of microclimates down there thanks to the geography of the land (and sea!). Still, at least high wind isn't forecast. Yet..
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@sparklies, If you look at the Tignes weather thread I have been talking about the developing weather system over the weekend for some days. In short = it will be raining in Bourg St Maurice all Friday night and sat morning - the snow level will be about 1400m. It may be sleeting by evening in Bourg - so no snags with the train. There are no signs of thunder in the forecasts that have a human element behind them until Monday - and that is only a chance. There will be snow but I suspect it will only be light/moderate on Saturday so bring some low light goggles and enjoy the fresh snow. It wont be windy so the vast majority of the resort will be open. I'm not a Les Arcs specialist - but I suspect the tree lined runs around Vallandry will be a good place to go.  . As its a south easterly - all this may not get over the hills so it would just be a grey day.
As with all weather forecasting - it may change.
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@chocksaway, thank you! That's exactly the sort of thing I wanted to hear - a human being with a bit of expert knowledge! We can cope with light/moderate snowfall - I just remember my then six year old's miserable face at the top of Roche de Mio in La Plagne a few years back in a blizzard and a gale. Mistake!! I can do Rule 5, but it's asking a bit much for an 8 year old! She was fine with light/moderate snow, so long as she was well-fed but that applies to any activity.
Fingers crossed your prediction is correct!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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The forecast today only has a few places suggesting thunder and there is a lot of variability as to what time the snow will arrive and whether it will be cloudy or sunny in the morning! Still, it's good news
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If you hear the thunder the lightning has not killed you.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Filthyphil30k wrote: |
| If you hear the thunder the lightning has not killed you. |
More expert knowledge. Although presumably you might hear the thunder as you were dying? Hearing is the last sense to go.
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Only if sound speeds up to nearly the speed of light.
Sound is very slow compared with a lightning bolt.
Good news, chairlifts are often earthed out.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Filthyphil30k, to continue this wonderfully cheery morbid trivia: you might hear the thunder of he previous lightening strike that didn't get you, but get deaded by the next strike
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Its OK chaps - doesn't lightening strike the tallest metal object in the vicinity - if so, the first to cop it will be the one with the Tinky-Winky Be A Zero camera on his helmet!
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Poster: A snowHead
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@under a new name, Cool, thanks for that - always good to have a recommendation! I like that one because it reckons sunny all day too, ha.
My dad got caught in a massive thunderstorm in the middle of the Bay of Biscay in his boat once that went on for hours. He was sure he was going to die as it was absolutely terrifying, constant lightning all around, but, well, he didn't! Not from that anyway, it was a few years later (heart attack) unless it was very cunning lightning..!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Note to self - pack waterproofs at top of bag !!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@sparklies, I truly hope you have a wonderful day. One way or another I think it is quite an adventure with an 8 year old, and the kind of thing you will both recall fondly in the distant future whatever the weather throws at you!
@under a new name, On the point of thunder and lightening with snow, we actually experienced all 3 at the same time here in Essex on the 29th Jan this year, and relatives reported the same thing further north a few hours earlier!
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Thundersnow is not a rare phenomenon, it's happened quite a bit up in the Highlands of Scotland this winter according to two of my sisters who live on Lewis.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@CaravanSkier, Thanks, so do I! I'm keen to encourage the children to do things outside their comfort zone too, and reap the rewards. Hopefully in a few years I can do similar with my now six year old, but right now she is utterly bonkers and has no sense of danger whatsoever, so I don't trust her on a mountain with just me one little bit!
We had some thundersnow here in Hemel in recent years, it was the weirdest "bang".
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My dad always had an adventurous spirit and he inspired me for sure. My mother probably regrets that as although I'm not quite living overseas from her, she's 6-7 hours away in Cornwall so I don't see her very often at all which she is not best pleased about! It was very much taking a leap of faith each step that got me where I am now, which is in a good place with a good bloke, and pre-children I had a good career which I hope to return to soon. An adventurous spirit is not the sort of thing you can teach in schools, you have to lead by physical example!
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[quote="sparklies". An adventurous spirit is not the sort of thing you can teach in schools, you have to lead by physical example![/quote]
I agree, and we do what is best for our children, even if that means we miss them a lot when they grow and fly far from the nest!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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If you ever get the chance ti see lightning in a snowstorm take it
. . .
Uterly magic and ethereal
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Meteo France gives a sunnyish start to Saturday followed by snow moving in and becoming heavy during the night. It looks good to me.
However, by version of the meteo france web site appears to have been hijacked by an organisation called lidl so I am not sure how reliable it is
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Quote: |
But then a cable car would pretty much turn into a microwave.
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Surely this would act as a Faraday cage
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Well, it's looking better by the hour by the looks of things! Okay, so not much fresh snow, but compared to thinking I might be looking at a few sad looking stationary lifts dangling mournfully above a throng of frustrated skiers all fighting for the last pain au chocolat in the resort cafes whilst the mountain shakes around them, I'll take this any day!
It would be nice to see proper thundersnow but just not for a one day break because that is just mean.
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You know it makes sense.
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It was sunny all day aside from a few very light and brief snow showers late afternoon - aside from having fresh powder I could not have asked for better weather! We had a truly amazing time It was perfect!! Now gutted we have to wait 10 months until we go again (Tignes in early January) - one day is not enough.
Will write up the trip report in the next few days. Right now sleep deprivation and law of sod I just came down with a cold (still, at least I didn't have it yesterday!) so not quite with it right now..
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Glad to hear you had a good day. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Trip report is up now - thought I'd better write it before my exhausted brain forgets it all!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I would absolutely love to and I bet it would be fantastic too. I wish I'd started skiing properly before children so I could have done stuff like that. But unfortunately with a very young family (youngest has only just had her first birthday) I can't leave them for more than a few days as it isn't really fair on them. Next season I can probably stretch to a three nighter like I did a few years back on my own, when my then youngest was 21 months and none of the others could ski. We're done having children now so things can only get better from here on in, and I'll always have somebody to ski with now as well!
The trip in January is with all six of us and is costing a small fortune, hence the appeal of very short breaks with just me (or my husband going instead) and one of the older children for now and the rest stay at home. Less crippling financially as no need for childcare and all the other complications that come with a large family (not to mention the logistics of travel) but we still get some real mountain!
When they're older maybe I'll finally make a SH bash unless there is ever a family one before then!
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